Retrospect 

^  and 

j  Rropltecu 


THE  1IO.VKI)  OK  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

OF  XX  IK 

PHI3.SBYTEHIAN  ClUTRCH  UT  THE  TT.S.A. 
l.">0  1'ifthAveixue 
Nkw  York 


Amount  Appropriated  for  the  Wc 
Receipts  from  all  Sources  and  C 


Deficit  Reported  April  1,  1914  - 

Will  the  CHURCH  see 
ANTICIPATIONS  of  AD' 


UNDER  the  manifest  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  Christians  of  the 
country  churches  in  the  Tsingtau  field 
have  gone  on  to  the  tithing  basis.  They  were 
giving  about  $12.50  gold  a  year  but  now  they 
are  beginning  to  give  about  $70  and  even 
more  and  this  out  of  poverty.  The  missionary 
calculated  the  average  income  of  each  family 
and  posted  the  result  on  the  church  wall, 
together  with  the  amount  each  family  was 
giving,  and  then  contrasted  it  with  one-tenth 
of  the  income.  The  contrast  in  some  cases 
was  startling.  The  people  had  not  realized 
they  could  do  so  much.  In  the  mountain 
regions  the  income  from  firewood  was  also 
estimated. 

IMAGINE  IN  THE  HOME  CHURCHES, 
THE  ASSETS  of  each  member  being  posted 
on  the  church  wall,  together  with  THE 
AMOUNT  HE  ACTUALLY  GIVES  to  the 
evangelization  of  the  world.  And  contrast 
this  with  HIS  SHARE  AS  IT  SHOULD  BE 
on  the  basis  of  the  tithe. 

A  wonderful  old  woman  of  75,  of  mighty 
praying  power,  who  cannot  read  a  character, 
and  who  has  been  persecuted  by  her  family 
for  50  years  has  been  used  to  break  down  the 
opposition  in  several  villages  praying  faith¬ 
fully  for  her  own  persecuting  family.  About 
60  people  in  one  village  have  been  baptized 
through  her  efforts,  and  a  school  of  20  pupils 
started  in  another  heathen  center.  THIS  OLD 
WOMAN  OUT  OF  AN  INCOME  OF  about 
$15  gold,  GIVES  THREE-TENTHS  OF  IT 
toward  a  new  church  building  which  will  cost 
the  munificent  sum  of  $100  gold. 


THE  CLOSE  < 

rk  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  for 
redits  Amounted  to  -  -  -  -  -  $2,2 

Surplus  on  the  Year’s  Accou 

. $292,000 

Deficit  Stands  April  18,  19 

o  it  that  this  year,  1916-17,  this  DIMINI 
ANCE  and  ENLARGED  WORK  in  all  the  ir 


INSTEAD  OF  THE  THORN  SHALL 
COME  UP  THE  FIR  TREE.  During  the 
winter  of  1911,  a  great  famine  came  upon 
all  the  region  north  of  the  Yangtse  River. 
Famine  Relief  was  taken  up  in  a  most 
thorough  and  systematic  way,  working  through 
a  central  committee  in  Shanghai,  but  the  suf¬ 
fering  was  appalling,  and  thousands  of  people, 
worthy  farmer  folk,  saw  their  scanty  supply 
of  rice  fail,  until  there  was  nothing  to  eat. 
Those  who  could  get  away  fled  with  their 
families,  and  some  forty  thousand  came  to 
Nanking  and  lived  in  tiny  mud  or  straw  huts, 
outside  the  city  wall. 

A  meeting  was  called  at  the  American  Con¬ 
sulate,  and  Mr.  Jos.  Bailie  was  given  the 
leadership  of  plans  for  local  relief  work; 
some  funds  being  made  available  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Famine  Relief  Committee.  The  following 
year  land  was  granted  by  the  government  on 
the  slopes  of  Purple  Mountain. 

Last  spring  the  Governor  GeneraTYjf  the 
Philippines  sent  a  Yale  college  man,  who  is 
at  the  head  of  the  forestry  department  in 
Manila,  to  investigate  conditions  in  China, 
with  a  view  to  co-operating  in  a  SCHOOL  OF 
FORESTRY.  He  was  the  guest  of  the  Uni¬ 
versity,  and  from  his  report  we  quote:  “To  the 
writer  the  most  astonishing  thing  in  China 
was  the  amount  of  land  lying  idle  on  hill  and 
mountain.  The  population  is  overcrowded  and 
desperately  poor,  yet  in  the  very  vicinity,  per¬ 
haps  on  the  outskirts  of  the  congested  villages, 
rise  fertile  and  unused  hills.  Fruit  trees  grow¬ 
ing  wild  prove  that  they  could  easily  be  re¬ 
forested.  Every  consideration  urges  that  these 
waste  lands  be  put  to  the  uses  for  which  they 
are  adapted. 

“An  admirable  beginning  was  made  on 
Purple  Mountain.  It  has  given  employment 
to  thousands  and  many  families  are  now 
making  a  comfortable  living  on  land  which 
would  have  otherwise  remained  unproductive 
and  has  resulted  in  a  department  of  agricul¬ 
ture,  which  was  opened  in  1914.” 


OF  THE  YEAR 

the  Fiscal  Year  Ending  March  31,  1916 
!85, 930.45 

int . $30,012.16 

Deficit  Reduced  During  1914-15  i 
16 . $44,500 

ISHING  CLOUD  shall  DISAPPEAR  ENTIRE!/ 
nission  fields  shall  NOT  BE  DARKENED  by 


AN  evangelist  and  Bible  woman  work  all 
day  amongst  the  patients  of  the  Seoul 
“Hospital.  No  one  can  tabulate  the 
number  of  conversions  that  result  from  this, 
any  more  than  we  can  know  how  many  be¬ 
lieved  among  the  throngs  whom  the  Master 
healed.  But  we  hear  again  and  again  of 
those  who  come  with  no  thought  but  that  of 
physical  help,  and  go  away  with  their  hearts 
full  of  love  for  God  and  man.  Such  was  the 
rich  man  who  came  from  a  village  not  far 
from  Seoul  and  who  when  he  went  home 
found  his  way  at  once  to  the  little  Chapel 
and  joined  the  humble  band  of  Christians 
there,  making  himself  felt  from  the  first  for 
Christ.  Such  was  the  one  who  said  “You  are 
all  so  kind,  so  good  to  a  sick  man,  that  though 
I  do  not  understand  the  Jesus  Doctrine,  I  know 
it  is  good  and  I  want  to  do  it  from  now  on.” 

The  physician  in  charge  of  the  medical  work 
at  Urumia  pays  the  following  tribute  to  the 
native  physicians,  one  of  whom  was  the  as¬ 
sistant  in  the  hospital,  a  most  efficient  and 
faithful  man  since  his  graduation  in  1908: 
During  the  first  awful  days  of  1915  it  was 
his  hands  that  dressed  and  redressed  the 
wounds  of  those  brought  to  the  hospital.  He 
thought  not  of  himself  and  literally  wore  him¬ 
self  out  for  others.  His  life  was  given  in 
noblest  self-sacrifice.  The  services  of  some 
of  the  physicians  were  given  reluctantly  at 
first,  but  this  was  not  surprising  when  the 
conditions  under  which  they  had  to  live  and 
the  losses  they  had  suffered  are  taken  into 
consideration.  Before  the  troubles  were  over 
they  gave  themselves  unstintedly. 

THE  YEAR  HAS  BEEN  ONE  OF  HIGH 
PRIVILEGE. 


)  was  -  -  -  -  $2,255,918.29 

Budget  for  the  Year  Covered 

to . $101,013.49 


LY,  and  that  the  BRIGHT 
OVERHANGING  DEBT? 

DWIGHT  H.  DAY,  TREASURER. 


THE  picture  shows  THE  RESULT  OF 
THE  DESTRUCTIVE  FORCES  OF 
MASSACRE  AND  RUIN  that  were 
at  work  in  Urumia  last  year.  It  is  one 
of  the  Christian  villages  of  that  beautiful 
plain,  wrecked  and  plundered  by  Persian 
neighbors  and  Kurdish  invaders.  In  the 
massacres  of  January,  1915,  some  of  the 
men,  women  and  children  were  murdered, 
many  more  died  in  the  epidemics  of  the 
winter,  and  some  of  the  women  and  girls 
were  taken  away  as  captives.  It  is  a  cause  of 
humiliation  that  this  terrible  force  was  let 
loose  by  a  war  that  began  in  Europe.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  these 
destructive  forces  have  been  at  work  in 
Western  Asia  for  centuries. 

What  constructive  force  can  be  set  to  work? 
Only  Christ  and  His  Gospel,  only  Christian 
love  working  in  Christian  life,  and,  this  is 
what  the  missionaries  have  been  doing.  The 
people  who  survived  massacre  owe  their  lives 
to  the  missionaries,  and  the  missionaries  are 
still  engaged  and  will  be  in  helping  the  people 
to  get  a  new  start  in  life.  With  a  new  start 
in  their  homes,  let  us  pray  that  they  may  have 
a  new  start  in  spiritual  life  and  that  a  new 
and  better  Christianity  may  rise  out  of  the 
ruins.  THE  PICTURE  SHOWS  THE  NEED 
AND  MAKES  THE  APPEAL.  Gifts  for  the 
re-construction  of  ruined  mission  property 
may  be  sent  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions.  Gifts  for  the  relief  of  the  people  in 
these  villages  and  for  the  40,000  refugees  who 
have  come  from  Turkey  into  Urumia  and  Sal¬ 
mas,  should  be  sent  to  the  Committee  for  the 
Armenian  and  Syrian  Relief,  No.  70  Fifth 
Avenue,  New  York  City. 

The  picture  represents  ANOTHER  HAP¬ 
PIER  CRUMBLING  OF  WALLS.  The  courage 
and  sacrifice  of  the  missionaries  have  broken 
down  walls  of  prejudice,  opened  doors  of  op¬ 
portunity,  and  given  the  Gospel  of  Salvation  to 
the  persecuted  survivors  of  the  old  Christian 
Churches  as  well  as  to  the  persecutors. 


Itinerating  through  flood  in  the  Philippines 


Village  school  children  at  lunch,  China 


Medical  patients  with  present  for  the  physician,  India 


AL1AWA— destroyed  by  Kurds  and  village  Mohammedans 


MEDICAL 

Hospitals  .  .  77  In-patients  .  18,573 
No.  of  beds  .  3,010  Dispensaries  .  95 

Out-patients  .  681,864 

Receipts  in  fees  and  gifts  .  .  .  $155,079 


PHILANTHROPIC 

Among  the  LEPERS  in  Africa,  India,  China, 
Chosen  and  Siam. 

In  the  MILLS  in  Japan. 

In  PRISONS  in  Japan  and  China. 

In  RELIEF  WORK  in  China,  among  the 
Chinese  in  the  U.  S. 

In  WAR  EMERGENCY  RELIEF  in  Africa, 
Mexico,  India,  Persia  and  Syria. 


INDUSTRIAL 

In  AFRICA  —  Cement  blocks,  brick  making, 
chair  making,  tailoring,  printing  and  gar¬ 
dening. 

In  CHINA  —  Cooking,  wood  work,  carpentry, 
agriculture. 

In  INDIA  —  Weaving,  boot  and  shoe  making, 
furniture,  scientific  farming,  masonry. 

In  the  PHILIPPINES  —  Agriculture,  printing, 
mining,  electrical  work,  building. 

In  SIAM  —  Leather  work,  improved  rice  culti¬ 
vation. 


PROPHECY 

The  work  of  the  year  has  been 

CARRIED  ON  IN  A  WORLD  TORN 
BY  WAR,  BRUISED  BY  BRUTALITY, 
SPIRITUALLY  SENSITIZED  BY  SUFFER¬ 
ING,  THROWN  INTO  CHAOS  FINAN¬ 
CIALLY  AND  CONFUSED  SPIRITUALLY 
AND  INTELLECTUALLY  BY  ATTEMPTS  TO 
UNDERSTAND  LIFE’S  MYSTERIES. 

That  the  world’s  tragedy  has  affected  Mis¬ 
sion  work  there  is  no  doubt;  that  it  will  affect 
it  still  more  is  equally  true;  but  he  would  be 
a  bold  man  who  attempted  to  prophesy  what 
will  be  the  exact  outcome,  and  whether  the 
results  will  retard  or  accelerate  the  Christian 
enterprise.  When  one  surveys  the  field  of 
Missions  at  large,  he  is  surprised  to  find  that 
while  there  is  evidence  that  the  sight  of 
Christian  nations  at  war  has  aroused  adverse 
criticism  on  the  part  of  many  thoughtful  non- 
Christians,  it  has  not  apparently  interrupted 
the  great  onward  movement  of  the  purposes 
of  Christ.  It  is  significant  that  in  the  survey 
for  the  year  1915,  there  is  a  story  of  evangel¬ 
istic  success  such  as  has  not  hitherto  been 
rendered. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  this  past  year  has 
not  shown  a  large  increase  in  contributions, 
the  Board  felt  it  necessary  to  ask  the  Budget 
Committee  to  approve  for  the  coming  year  a 
larger  sum  than  last  by  $100,000. 

IT  HAS  DONE  THIS  BY  OPENING  ITS 
EYES  TO  THE  VISION  AND  REFUSING  TO 
LISTEN  TO  THE  COUNSEL  OF  TIMIDITY 
AND  FEAR.  IT  IS  CONFIDENT  IN  THE 
LOYALTY  OF  THE  CHURCH  AND  IT 
DARE  NOT  DISREGARD  THE  CALL  TO 
GO  FORWARD. 


Stanley  White. 


EVANGELISTIC 

Native  Force  (not  including  teachers)  3,007 

Organized  Churches  .  914 

Unorganized  groups  .  2,822 

Churches  and  groups  entirely  seli- 

supporting  .  1,436 

Communicant  members  . 148,638 

Added  during  the  year .  16,380 

Adherents  and  Catechumens . 376,591 

Sunday-school  membership . 176,168 

Contributions  on  the  field  for  Evan¬ 
gelistic  Purposes  . $102,740 


EDUCATIONAL 

Total  number  of  schools .  1,857 

Native  teachers  .  3,090 

Kindergartens  .  56 

Primary  and  Intermediate .  1,797 

High  Schools  .  89 

Colleges  or  collegiate  departments..  12 

Other  schools  .  143 

Theological  pupils  .  847 

Medical  pupils  .  258 

Total  of  all  pupils .  74,763 

Received  on  field  for  Educational 

Purposes  . $398,107 


Form  2395 


May,  1916 


